Monday, October 22, 2007

Isn’t it wonderful when a recipe exceeds our expectations?? I love it when that happens. This salad is one of those recipes.When I saw the photo on the book, I thought it would be good. But it turned out to be really, really good.

The dressing plays an amazing part here – and the garlic is the one to blame. I have a friend who loves to cook with garlic and I’m sure he would like this dressing very much.

The only problem for me is that I find garlic a bit hard to digest – so the dressing and I had long conversations throughout the afternoon. We even saw a movie together. :SI know that roasting garlic is one way of getting rid of this problem but I’m not sure how much it would change the flavor of the dressing.

I adapted the recipe of a Brazilian book and used queijo Minas frescal (Minas cheese) instead of bocconcini – a cookie cutter came in handy for making round slices of cheese.

This is my post for this Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Pille, of the beautiful Nami-Nami.

Start with the dressing: chop the garlic cloves and place them in a small bowl. Add the oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.Wash the eggplants and cut them into 0.5cm slices. Do the same thing with the cheese and the tomatoes.Heat a grilling pan over medium heat. Brush both sides of each eggplant slice with olive oil and grill (both sides). Set aside.In a large plate, place the tomato slices, cover with the cheese and finish with the eggplant.Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Patricia, I just love this type of salad. I often make a Caprese salad which is Tomatoes, Mozzarella fresh basil leaves, garlic and olive oil. I love your use of eggplant and a different type of cheese, not to mention the roasted garlic, I will definitely make this.

Oh wow, what a gorgeous salad! I think roasted garlic could be lovely here - I have no problem with raw garlic personally, but I might try roasted anyway, just to switch things up. Now I know what dinner is tonight! Thank you!

Yum! It's so wonderful when a few simple ingredients add up to a very tasty, satisfying dish. Roasting the garlic would have a different effect, but maybe, one that you would like. It may not help your...um...problem though.

Anh, I should try roasting the garlic for this dressing, tks, sweetie!I really liked the movie and now I'm very curious about the book, 'cause I've read that Stanley Kubrick once said the book was unfilmable.

Manggy, use mozzarella, it works wonderfully too!

Curt, thank you!

Tanna, I really like eggplants and hadn't cooked with them in ages!

Peter, tks for the tip - so useful!

Hilda, let me know if you make it, sweetie.

Julie, I love Caprese salad, too, but have never made it with garlic. I would love to hear your opinion about this dish if you try it!

Patricia--I'm honored to be called out as your garlic-loving friend. I am that indeed. Regarding your garlic sensitivity issues, while you're grilling the eggplant just heat a little of the olive oil you're going to use for the dressing in a small pan and cook the garlic for just a minute or so, then transfer it to the bowl you're using to make the dressing and let it cool before finishing the dressing. This will tame the garlic a bit and probably make it more digestible for you, while still delivering a nice garlicky hit in the dressing.

Patricia, here I am again looking at your recipe in English now and I was thinking, maybe if you baked garlic in microwave for a minute, it would make it taste better, have you tried that? I have a garlic baker that works wonders...

I love the sound of this dressing, Patricia, and the grilled eggplant, along with the pretty red tomatoes and cheese looks so appetizing...I can see why it exceeded your expectations...it looks fantastic!

Thank you for taking part at the WHB, Patricia! I love garlic in any shape, but you may want to blanch or roast the garlic if it doesn't agree with you. It change the flavour a little, but it'd be still garlicky enough:)

This is very similar to a sandwich filling I make. I cook the tomatoes with garlic, a pinch of sugar, salt and a little olive oil to make a thick sauce and then spread it on fried (or grilled) aubergines. Later on, I spread this mixture in a sandwich bun and add some feta cheese. Yum!What I really wanted to say is about the garlic actually. I keep a very small jar of olive oil with 2-3 garlic cloves and fresh oregano in it. I use it sparingly for salads, etc. and top it up with more olive oil as needed. Has great flavor and may be the solution to your garlic digestion problems.Take care.